The Legend of Hercules (2014)
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Critics Consensus: Cheap-looking, poorly acted, and dull, The Legend of Hercules is neither fun enough to qualify as an action movie nor absorbing enough to work on a dramatic level.
Critics Consensus: Cheap-looking, poorly acted, and dull, The Legend of Hercules is neither fun enough to qualify as an action movie nor absorbing enough to work on a dramatic level.
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Movie Info
In the epic origin story THE LEGEND OF HERCULES, Kellan Lutz stars as the mythical Greek hero - the son of Zeus, a half-god, half-man blessed with extraordinary strength. Betrayed by his stepfather, the King, and exiled and sold into slavery because of a forbidden love, Hercules must use his formidable powers to fight his way back to his rightful kingdom. Through harrowing battles and gladiator-arena death matches, Hercules embarks on a legendary odyssey to overthrow the King and restore peace … More- Rating:
- PG-13 (for sequences of intense combat action and violence, and for some sensuality)
- Genre:
- Action & Adventure , Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Directed By:
- Renny Harlin
- Written By:
- Sean Hood , Daniel Giat
- In Theaters:
- Jan 10, 2014 Wide
- On DVD:
- Apr 29, 2014
- US Box Office:
- $18.8M
Cast
-
Kellan Lutz
as Hercules -
Liam McIntyre
as Sotiris -
Scott Adkins
as King Amphitryon -
Liam Garrigan
as Iphicles -
Johnathon Schaech
as Tarak -
Roxanne McKee
as Queen Alcmene
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LoginCritic Reviews for The Legend of Hercules
All Critics (71) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (69)
Essentially a Monday Night Raw episode with mythological dressing.
The dialogue isn't dubbed, but is written and delivered so indifferently that it might as well have been.
[Other "Hercules" movies] at least nodded at classical mythology. Harlin's boasts a Hercules in name chiefly and banks on moviegoers' ignorance.
It delivers what it promises, which is muscular guys in skimpy clothes fighting and howling, as well as some large-scale digitally enhanced battle sequences.
The Legend of Hercules may not track, but Harlin still knows how to set up a rousing circus.
The whole thing is a total bore.
Lunkhead Kellan Lutz is the demigod's density in Renny Harlin's 300-lite, MST3K-ready retelling of the classical legend. Think Jesus with muscles, by the power of Greyskull.
There's nothing here to engage the viewer or make them care one iota about what's occurring on the screen, making it no wonder that this got dumped into theaters in the middle of January.
The film opens on a huge battle in the Greek city of Argos, but it often ends up feeling like the director bought it cheap at the high street namesake.
Even dental extraction is more enjoyable to endure than this artistically bankrupt misfire.
No one seems to have high hopes for it - though it might well help to pass a wet afternoon when it shows up on Netflix 15 minutes from now.
This lousy attempt at a revival isn't even good for camp laughs.
The lore of Hercules has spanned centuries, yet it's unlikely to ever see a more generic treatment on film than that of Renny Harlin's overblown origin story.
Somehow more cartoonish than Disney's version, which actually was a cartoon.
A low point is when Hercules kills the Nemean lion, who seemed to be minding his own business in his forest; not cool, Herc, even if he was all digital and as fakey as those stuffed cats they used to throw at Steve Reeves.
A misfire from top to bottom so complete that even when you think you have a handle on all the ways it can be bad, it pulls out another one that's even worse.
Mythical tale is violent and poorly executed.
This origin story of the great hero Hercules (Lutz) of Greek mythology lacks even one semi-decent action piece.
Boldly unimaginative and ferociously derivative
When awfulness reaches a certain point, it achieves unintentional hilarity.
Tepid and tedious with acting so ludicrous that it's laughable.
Through the centuries, the legend of Hercules has survived. It will survive the splat of this big B.C. cheese ball, too.
Harlin's '90s heyday of crafting fun fare becomes that much more of a distant memory.
The best that can be said of this latest take on Hercules is that it is over fast,.
Audience Reviews for The Legend of Hercules
The story of Hercules has graced us many times in numerous incarnations. Renny Harlin's latest turkey, The Legend of Hercules, is the myth told in the most lifeless and uninteresting way possible.
Sets look cheap. Costumes look put together from discount surplus attire. Actors don't act; they yell; all the time; every line - it's like high school kids performing bad Shakespeare without microphones. Granted, their performances are clearly the fault of the director.
Everything in this movie is a cliché, from the opening "prophecy" to the final siege in the middle of a thunderstorm set to booming Hans Zimmer-esque music. I don't understand why anyone bothered trying to make this movie and I can't fathom anyone being remotely interested in seeing it.
Super Reviewer
Uninspired, wholly unoriginal, and it strays so far from the source material of Hercules that is may just be called "300: Hercules the New Recruit," because right down to it's core, this film is a rip-off of "300" in every way imaginable, right down to it's slow motion nonsense in the middle of every single action sequence. Kelllan Lutz is laughable at times as the title character and the supporting cast do not seem to know what film they are in. This has some of the worst CGI I've seen in years, as far as the standard Hollywood blockbusters go nowadays, the script is sloppily written, and it is not directed very well either, which is a shame due to who was at the helm. Renny Harlin is not the only one responsible here, but he should have chosen a different film to work on. "The Legend of Hercules" is everything you would expect it to be and less. If you can accept how bad the effects are, you can have some fun with the action and dumb dialogue, but that's about it. This is a truly bad film.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Apparently acting lessons were not among the Labors of Hercules. The true Herculean labor associated with this film seems to be the cleaning of the stables -- what dreck. CGI effects were glamorous and stunning at times; woefully inept at other times. The story was random and seemed sophomoricly episodic. The plot was unnecessarily stupid -- for example, killing the Nemean Lion in a distant place and then showing up with it skinned, tanned and cleaned in the next scene with the unnecessary and illogical comment that Hercules had been gone for a mere two hours. What?! This is a sad attempt to make a film far beyond the filmmakers' skill. Nevertheless. if you ignore the considerable amount of illogical and stupid permeating the film, it is fun -- and has a lot of great beef cake to drool over.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Wow, what a massive and tremendous mess of a film with a tremendous amount of awful acting, awful love story and sloppy action scenes that try to rip off the Spartacus tv series and 300. Kellen Lutz has no personality or charisma what so ever and looks more like a stuntman than a leading man. Scott Adkins and Liam McIntyre are great actors but sadly this film does not do them any justice. This film is a total waste and a complete piece of crap that makes me wish i can get that 99 minutes of my life back, which i probably wont since God has decided to spite me and any other audience member that decided to watch this at all. The worst picture of the year award nominations should begin with this piece of trash
MoreSuper Reviewer
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